Golf club head

ABSTRACT

A golf club head includes a hosel section and a head main body. The head main body is composed of a face section, and an upper structural section and a lower structural section. The upper structural section and the lower structural section are provided on a back side of the face section. The upper structural section and the lower structural section are secured on the face section by welding, brazing, bonding, screwing, or the like. The upper structural section is configured so to be heavier than the lower structural section.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART STATEMENT

The present invention relates to a golf club head.

In a golf play, it is preferred to reduce missed shots especially theones such as fat shots and topped shots during approach shots forgeneral golf players regardless of their skill levels.

An approach shot is frequently made after a shot aimed at a green isslightly missed. A typical distance of the approach shot to a cup isoften within about 50 yards. For this reason, a swing length of theapproach shot is typically up to a half of a full shot, and it isnecessary to slow down a head speed. On the other hand, for a distanceof 60 yards or longer, when a general golf player chooses a club with anappropriate loft angle, the player can swing the club at a regular clubhead speed.

In addition, while 70% green in regulation is considered as an excellentlevel even for professional golfers, even 28% green in regulation (5 outof 18 holes) is considered as a decent level for average golfers.Therefore, in the golf play, the approach shots are frequent.

For the approach shots, many players prefer to use an approach wedge(with a loft angle of about 48° to 54°) or a sand wedge (with a loftangle of about 56° to 60°). Here, when a player chooses to use a wedgewith a relatively large loft angle, the club head speed tends to behigh. As a result, it is possible to attain a carry distance of about100 yards by a full swing with the approach wedge, and a carry distanceof about 80 yards with the sand wedge.

Since the approach wedge and the sand wedge have a heavy club head, whena ball is hit under an appropriate ball-hitting point of a club headincluding a top, the ball may excessively travel for a longer thanexpected carry distance. Such a phenomenon of the excessive carry canoccur not only with the approach wedge and the sand wedge, but also witha so-called short iron such as the No. 8 iron or below.

Patent Reference has disclosed a conventional iron golf club head, whichcan prevent the excessive carry even in the full shot by fillingfloating metal powder in a club head main body. With such a golf clubhead, even when a distance to a cup is for example within 50 yards, itis possible to swing the full shot.

Patent Reference: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2007-130317

However, the above-described conventional golf club head has the clubhead main body filled with the floating metal powder, thereby easilycausing unusual feeling upon swing. For this reason, with those golfclubs, it is difficult to sufficiently reduce the frequency of themissed shots such as the topped shots and the duff shots.

In view of the problems of the conventional golf club head as describedabove, an object of the present invention is to provide a golf club headthat can reduce an excessive carry even when a player makes a missedshot such as a topped shot or a near topped shot. It is also possible toreduce the missed shot such as the topped shot and the duff shot.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description of the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

In order to attain the objects described above, according to one aspectof the present invention, a golf club head includes a head main body anda shaft-connecting section. In the golf club head, a weight distributionbetween a weight of an upper head section W1 and a weight of a lowerhead section W2 is W1≧W2 when the head main body is divided into twosections with a vertical plane or a horizontal plane passing through acenter of a face of the gold club head in an up-and-down directionthereof, or a plane perpendicular to the face when the gold club head isplaced in a reference state, in which the gold club head is placed on ahorizontal surface while maintaining a specific lie angle and a specificloft angle thereof.

With the above-described configuration, since the weight of the lowerhead section of the golf club head is less than that of the upper headsection, even in a case of missed shots such as topped shots, in whichthe lower head section having the light weight hits near an equator of agolf ball, it is possible to reduce a level of an excessive carry.Furthermore, once a player can feel reduction of the excessive carriesdue to the missed shots, the player may not hesitate to lift a sole ofthe club head from the ground when the player is in address position, sothat the player recognizes to be able to just hit under an equator ofthe ball with a leading edge of the club head through down blow.

Accordingly, it is possible to improve the swing motion and reduce themissed shots such as the topped shots and the duff shots. Moreover, thecenter of gravity of the golf club head becomes high and the distancebetween a ball-hitting point and the center of gravity becomes longer.

Accordingly, the club head can easily rotate downward (in a directionthat a clubface stands) upon hitting the ball, and with a gear effectcaused by the spin, it is possible to apply strong back spins to theball.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is also possible toconfigure so as to attain the weight distribution W1≧W2 for weightsincluding respective parts of the hosel section as a shaft-connectingsection that is divided into the two sections with the planes.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is also possible toprovide a corner section of the face at a heel-side lower portion of theface. With the configuration, there is no hosel section on the heel-sidelower part of the face. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent aso-called shank shot.

According to one aspect of the present invention, on at least one edgesection of the toe side and the heel side of the face, there may be alsoprovided a cushion part. With the cushion part, it is possible to reducethe missed shots caused by hitting the golf ball at the edge section tocarry the golf ball in an oblique direction.

According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the levelof the excessive carry even in the case of the missed shots such as thetopped shot, and to reduce the missed shots such as the topped shots.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1(A), 1(B), and 1(C) are schematic views showing a golf club headviewed from a toe side thereof according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 2(A), 2(B), and 2(C) are schematic views showing a golf club headviewed from a toe side thereof according to another embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a golf club head according to furtheranother embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the golf club head shown in FIG. 3 viewed froma toe side thereof;

FIG. 5 is a top view of the golf club head shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a backside view of the golf club head shown in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 7 is a front view of a golf club head according to a still furtherembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, a golf club head accordingto an embodiment of the present invention will be described below. Here,it should be noted that the golf club head of the present invention isnot limited to the one described below, and can be modified, altered,and changed as necessary within the scope of the present invention.

FIGS. 1(A), 1(B), and 1(C) are schematic views showing a golf club head1 viewed from a toe side thereof according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. As shown in FIGS. 1(A), 1(B), and 1(C), the iron-type(including wedge) golf club head 1 includes a hosel section 10 and aclub head main body 11. The club head main body 11 is composed of aclubface section 12, an upper structural section 13 and a lowerstructural section 14 provided on a back side thereof. The upperstructural section 13 and the lower structural section 14 are secured onthe face section 12 by welding, brazing, bonding, or screwing, or byother method, or integrally molded therewith.

In the embodiment, the upper structural section 13 is made so as to beheavier than the lower structural section 14. The upper structuralsection 13 and the lower structural section 14 may be made of a metalmaterial as well as a resin material or the like. The lower structuralsection 14 can have a hollow structure. The hosel section 10 and theclubface section 12 are made, for example, of a metal material. The golfclub head 1 is muscle back type, but also can be a cavity type.

As shown in FIG. 1(A), the golf club head 1 is divided into two sectionswith a plane A perpendicular to a face 12 a that goes through a centerof the face 12 a in a up-and-down direction while being in a referencestate where the golf club head 1 is placed on a horizontal surface Hwhile maintaining a specific lie angle and a specific loft anglethereof. When a weight of the upper club head section 13A (hatched area)is W1 and a weight of the lower head section 14A (white-out area) is W2,the golf club head 1 satisfies the relation W1>W2. The center of theface 12 a in the up-and-down direction can be set as, for example, aposition in middle between the uppermost end and lowermost end of theface 12 a, or in a middle position between a heel-side end and atoe-side end in a score line forming region in the up-and-downdirection, or the like.

As shown in FIG. 1(B), the golf club head 1 is divided into two sectionswith a vertical plane B that goes through a center of the face 12 a inthe up-and-down direction, when the golf club head 1 is in a referencestate where the golf club head 1 is placed on a horizontal surface whilemaintaining a specific lie angle and a specific loft angle thereof. Whenthe weight of the upper head section 13A (hatched area) is W1 and theweight of the lower head section 14A (white-out area) is W2, the golfclub head 1 satisfies the relation W1>W2. Under the condition ofdividing into the two sections like this, a part of the lower structuralsection 14 forms a part of the upper head section 13A.

As shown in FIG. 1(C), when the golf club head 1 is divided into twosections with a horizontal plane C that goes through a center of theface 12 a in a up-and-down direction while being in a reference statewhere the golf club head 1 is placed on a horizontal surface H whilemaintaining a specific lie angle and a specific loft angle thereof. Whenthe weight of the upper head section 13A (hatched area) is W1 and theweight of the lower head section 14A (white-out area) is W2, the golfclub head 1 satisfies the relation W1≧W2. Under the condition ofdividing into two sections like this, a part of the upper structuralsection 13 forms a part of the lower head section 14A. It should benoted that the weights of the upper structural section 13 and the lowerstructural section 14 are set so as to secure W1≧W2. With the conditionof dividing into the two sections shown in FIG. 1(C), the weight of theupper head section 13A is to be lighter, so that it is more difficult tosatisfy W1≧W2 than other dividing conditions.

FIGS. 2(A), 2(B), and 2(C) are schematic views showing a golf club head1A according to another embodiment of the present invention. In the golfclub head 1A, the head main body 11 is composed of the clubface section12 and the upper structural section 13 and the lower structural section15 provided on the backside thereof. Here, the upper structural section13 is configured to have the same weight as the lower structural section15.

As shown in FIG. 2(A), when the golf club head 1 is divided into twosections with a plane A perpendicular to a face 12 a that goes through acenter of the face 12 a in a up-and-down direction while being in areference state where the golf club head 1 is placed on a horizontalsurface H while maintaining a specific lie angle and a specific loftangle thereof. When a weight of the upper head section 13A (hatchedarea) is W1 and a weight of the lower head section 14A (white-out area)is W2, the golf club head 1 satisfies the relation W1=W2.

As shown in FIG. 2(B), when the golf club head 1 is divided into twosections with a vertical plane B that goes through a center of the face12 a in a up-and-down direction while being in a reference state wherethe golf club head 1 is placed on a horizontal surface H whilemaintaining a specific lie angle and a specific loft angle thereof. Whenthe weight of the upper head section 13A (hatched area) is W1 and theweight of the lower head section 14A (white-out area) is W2, the golfclub head 1 satisfies the relation W1>W2. Under the condition ofdividing into two sections like this, a part of the lower structuralsection 15 forms a part of the upper head section 13A.

As shown in FIG. 2(C), when the golf club head 1 is divided into twosections with a horizontal plane C that goes through a center of theface 12 a in a up-and-down direction while being in a reference statewhere the golf club head 1 is placed on a horizontal surface H whilemaintaining a specific lie angle and a specific loft angle thereof. Whenthe weight of the upper head section 13A (hatched area) is W1 and theweight of the lower head section 14A (white-out area) is W2, the golfclub head 1 cannot satisfy the relation W1≧W2. The golf club head 1A isconfigured to satisfy the weight relation W1≧W2 based on FIGS. 2(A) and2(B), the golf club head 1A is also included in the scope of the presentinvention.

FIGS. 3, 4, 5, and 6 show a golf club head according to anotherembodiment of the present invention. The golf club head 1B integrallyincludes a weight part, which is equivalent to the upper structuralsection 13 and the lower structural section 14, on the back side of theface section 12, has a region that corresponds to the upper head section13A and the lower head section 14A (indicated with the same referencenumerals 13A and 14A), and has the weight distribution W1≧W2. Here, FIG.4 also shows a golf ball.

In those golf club heads 1, 1A, and 1B, since the weight of the lowerhead section 14A (15A) is set as W1, the weight of the upper headsection 13A, or lower, even in case of missed shots such as toppedshots, the lower head section 14A (15A), which has light weight, hits agolf ball 2 at an equator of the ball 2, and it is possible to reducethe level of the excessive carry.

In addition, once a player realizes the reduction of the excessive carrydue to the missed shots, the player may feel less hesitation aboutlifting the sole of the club head from the ground when the player is inaddress position, and the player may realize the player just needs tohit the leading edge under the equator of the ball by descending blowshot, so that it is possible to improve the swing and also reduce missedshots such as topped shots and duff shots. Furthermore, since the centerof gravity is high and the distance between the ball-hitting point andthe center of gravity is made longer, the club head can easily rotatedownward (in a direction that the clubface stands) upon hitting a ball,and thereby it is possible to give strong back spins on the ball by agear effect.

In the golf club heads 1, 1A, and 1B, the hosel section 10 is providedto extend from the heel side of the upper head section 13A, but thehosel section 10 can be configured to extend a region that includes theupper head section 13A and includes a part of the lower head section 14A(15A). In addition, in the configuration like this, it is possible toprovide a corner section of the face 12 a on the heel-side lower part ofthe face 12 a. In the configuration having such the corner section,since there is no hosel section 10 on the heel-side lower part of theface 12 a, so-called shank hardly occurs.

Here, it is also possible to configure to satisfy the weightdistribution W1≧W2 including weights of respective parts of the hoselsection 10 divided by the planes A, B, and C. In case the hosel section10 is provided to extend from the upper club head section 13A as in thegolf club heads 1, 1A, and 1B, it is easier to satisfy the relationW1≧W2.

Furthermore, in case of the golf club heads 1, 1A, and 1B, in areference state where the club head is placed on a horizontal planekeeping specific lie angle and loft angle, the highest position of theface 12 a is set lower than the height of a golf ball (e.g. preferablyin range of 3 to 3.5 cm). Moreover, as shown in FIG. 3, in the golf clubhead 1B, the height h1 of the toe side where the face 12 a is highest is3.5 cm, and the face height from the heel side to the center isconfigured to gradually increase from 2.5 cm to 3.5 cm, and the faceheight from the center to the toe side is configured to graduallyincrease from 3 cm to 3.5 cm. In addition, in the golf club head 1B, thewidth w of the face 12 a is set about 8 cm, and the height h2 of thehosel section 10 is set as about 4 cm.

When the height of the face 12 a is set low, it is possible to guide theplayer to lift the sole of the club head from the ground when the playeris in address position, and it is possible to reduce missed shots suchas duff shots. In addition, it is also possible to reduce resistance ofturf even in case of a shot from the rough.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 7, it is also possible to provide acushion part 12 b on an edge section of the heel-side lower part of theface 12 a. Similarly, it is also possible to provide a cushion part 12 con a toe-side edge section of the face 12 a. The width of the cushionpart 12 b and 12 c is set as, for example, about 7 mm. With the cushionparts 12 b and 12 c, it is possible to reduce missed shots due to golfball's hitting on the edge sections and traveling in an obliquedirection. The cushion parts 12 b and 12 c may be made of a materialhaving a shock-absorbing property such as rubber or resin, and may besecured by bonding or screwing. Alternatively, it is also possible tomake a hole on the face 12 a, and press a protrusion formed on a backside of the cushion part 12 b or 12 c into the hall to secure ittherein.

The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-156216 filed onJul. 12, 2012, is incorporated in the application by reference.

While the invention has been explained with reference to the specificembodiments of the invention, the explanation is illustrative and theinvention is limited only by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A golf club head comprising: a head main body; and a shaft-connecting section, wherein said head main body is divided into an upper head section and an lower head section with at least one of a vertical plane passing through a center of a face of the golf club head in an up-and-down direction, a horizontal plane passing through the center of the face of the golf club head in the up-and-down direction, and a plane perpendicular to the face when the golf club head is placed on a horizontal surface in a reference state while maintaining a specific lie angle and a specific loft angle of the golf club head, and said head main body has a weight distribution of W1≧W2 when W1 is a weight of the upper head section and W2 is a weight of the lower head section.
 2. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein said shaft-connecting section includes a hosel section constituting a part of the upper head section and the lower head section so that the head main body has the weight distribution of W1≧W2.
 3. The golf club head according to claim 1, further comprising a corner section on a heel-side lower portion of the face.
 4. The golf club head according to claim 1, further comprising a cushion part on at least one edge section of the face on a toe side or a heel side thereof. 